research methods Flashcards
what is an experimental hypothesis?
a general prediction about the direction of interaction between the IV and the Dv and the population
what are the four elements of an operational hypothesis?
- a testable prediction
- population
- operationalised IV
- operationalised DV
what is the confounding effect?
then uncontrolled variable has an effect on the DV
what is artificiality?
unnatural environment effects the experiment
what are demand characteristics?
know they are being studied so they change
what is an independent groups design?
randomly sampled to control and experimental groups
- popular and easy to administer
- doesn’t minimise potential difference in characteristics
what is the matched participants design?
involves pairing each participant based on a characteristic they share
randomly allocated to control and experimental
- even spread of participants characteristics
- involves protesting
what is a repeated measures design?
same participants for both
- eliminates differences
- creates order effect but counterbalancing eliminates order effect
what is a cross sectional design?
studies cohorts who differ in age at the same time
- quick, easy, cheap
- creates cohort effect
what is a longitudinal design?
study same people at different times
- no cohort effect
- expensive, time consuming, lose participants, cross generational problem
what is a longitudinal sequential design?
groups of participants are studied over time and at each measurement a new group is added that was the same age as the first group at the beginning of the study
- complex and expensive
what is the cross cultural approach?
start with a theory in one culture then apply it to another.
what is subjective data?
observations of behaviour
- biased and difficult to statistically analyse
what is objective data?
numerical.
- can be statistically analysed
- easily measured and compared
what is qualitative data?
changes in quality of behaviour and in words
what is quantitative data?
numerical and easily measured and compared
what are the non experimental designs?
case studies observational method naturalistic observation self reports correlational study brain imaging archival research
what are the advantages of a naturalistic observation?
natural setting
offer ideas for further research
if lab isn’t possible
what are the disadvantages of a naturalistic observation?
time consuming
expensive
no variable control
aware so act differently
what are the advantages of self reports?
fast cheap easy lots of data flexible
what are the disadvantages of self reports?
unrepresentative
poor questions
participant variables
what are the three types of correlational studies?
naturalistic observation
survey methods
archival research
what are brain imaging techniques?
gain structural of functional images of an active brain
- highly specific
- expensive and hard to generalise
what are the advantages of archival research?
analyse studies
provides a better view
less expensive
what are the disadvantages of archival research?
cannot change anything
no control
dates may be missing
unreliable research
what is descriptive data?
summarise, organise and describe data
- allows data to be easily interpreted
what is inferential statistics?
allows us to make inferences
- form conclusions, generalise findings and determine validity
what are the forms of reliability?
internal consistency
test retest
parallel forms
inter rater
what is internal consistency reliability?
all items contribute equally
what is test retest reliability?
same result, different time
what is inter rater reliability?
same assessment, different administrators
what are the forms of validity?
content
construct
external
criteria related
what is content validity?
tools assessing what they are meant to
what is construct validity?
tools assessing the content they are meant to
what is external validity?
can be generalised to the population?
what is criteria related validity?
consistent with other research
